


Hate Bone Connected to the Heart Bone

by ravensandwritings



Category: SuperMansion (Cartoon)
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fatherly Advice, Gen, Love Confessions, Slow Burn, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-22
Updated: 2018-05-22
Packaged: 2019-05-10 06:57:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14732111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ravensandwritings/pseuds/ravensandwritings
Summary: Rex wanted to just hit the john and go back to bed, but he can't ignore a skeletal clown in need of some nemesis relationship counseling.Post Season 3, Episode 3, and spoilery as hell for that episode.





	Hate Bone Connected to the Heart Bone

It was three in the morning when Rex heard the scrabbling on the roof. Just as he turned the water off in the bathroom, there was the scraping along the roof tiles. Goddamn it, he'd  _told_  Cooch about getting up there. He didn't want her to break anymore of the roof tiles. It was a pain in the ass to reshingle.  

Grumbling, he pulled on his robe and stalked outside. A quick flight brought him up to the roof. There was a shape hunched by a gargoyle that was mostly certainly  _not_  supposed to be there. Goddamn it, he was going to hurl that thing into the sun as soon as he vented his spleen. 

He drifted closer, not bothering to land, his approach silent. There was still scraping, but as he got closer, he realized it wasn't climbing or moving over the tiles that had made it. It was the audible grinding of naked, fleshless molars. 

That wasn't Cooch's unkempt mane. That cloud of curls belonged to the Groaner. 

"The hell are you doing up here?" Soon as the words were out of his mouth, he regretted it. Groaner yelped and flailed out and the gargoyle began to rock precariously.  Snapping to action, Rex had his hands on both of them, fist knotted in Groaner's collar and his other hand keeping the poorly placed gargoyle from tumbling. 

" _Jesus Hopscotching_ _Christ_ _!"_  Groaner hissed between his teeth. "The fuck, man?" 

"Calm down." Rex set him back down the ledge. "The hell has you up here brooding like Black Saturn? It's three in the goddamn morning." 

"Nothing you need to worry about." Groaner shifted, getting himself comfortable. He kicked his feet a little, hands planted to each side of him. "A guy just needs to think sometimes, and the house has been so packed..." 

Rex hovered beside him, unable to disagree. Staying in the mansion now was like living in a sardine can. Everyone in the villainous Injustice Club and the League of Freedom had to share space now. Everyone paired off, sometimes with the worst people they could possibly be with. He tried not to think of Dr. Divizo sleeping on one side of his bed, echoing days they'd bunked down in strange places, fighting for justice and truth. Those days were long gone, and he didn't want to hope that maybe some of these men might be redeemable. They might even be his friend again. 

Last Rex knew, after some shuffling, Groaner had been assigned to bed down with Black Saturn. Made sense—nemesis or not, the two tolerated each other well. But then Courtney had arrived, and things had been getting increasingly strange between the three of them. 

"You feeling cramped with Courtney coming back on?" Rex asked.  

Groaner's eyebrows dropped dramatically. Delivering in deadpan he said, "You have no idea." 

"Three in that room would be a really tight fit," Rex started, but Groaner's shoulders shot up. Was that the wrong choice of words, or did Rex have the wrong problem? "Or is it something else?" 

"I'm not staying with them," Groaner finally ground out, as if each word was being pulled from his mouth like his naked teeth. "I've tried to get Courtney out, but it's just not working." 

"Where the hell have you been bunking, then?"  

"Up in the attic," Groaner said. "It's musty as shit but livable."  

"So is the problem Black Saturn or Courtney? I mean, they're both insufferable sometimes, and together?" Rex just groaned at the very thought. He could get it why  _anybody_ would ditch out on the pair. They brought out the absolute worst in each other. "I couldn't stay with them either." 

"Nah, I – skipped out, day one. Saturn's been kind of smothering, you know? Dude's so  _needy!_  He needs your attention 24-fucking-7, and I needed some space. Then Courtney showed up…" A sigh whistled through the Groaner's bony jaw.  "Suddenly I was the one out in the cold, you know? I tried to get rid of him, because three's company and I wasn't exactly on for nemesising two guys, and but Saturn... He's got all the wrong ideas. I mean... really wrong ideas." 

Rex mulled it over, chewing the inside of his cheek he did. Sidekicks got in the way of things all the time, so that was nothing new. Lord knew that's why he didn't take them on. Pains in the ass, if you asked him. But this didn't sound like a sidekick issue. This didn't sound like nemesis issues. This sounded like a line had been crossed, and something had fundamentally changed.   

"So what's the problem?" Rex finally asked. He was up here, he'd made this his business, might as well just go whole hog.  Wouldn't be the first time he'd been super-mentor to someone. He just didn't expect it to be to somebody's nemesis _._  

 _"_ Me _."_  Groaner said. He rested his skull on his palms. "I'm the problem. I don't think—I don't think I can do this anymore. Be what he wants. What he deserves in a nemesis. Heart's just not in it anymore." 

"What?" Head turning so hard he nearly got whiplash, Rex looked down at the miserable clown with his mouth hanging open. 

"I had the perfect opportunity to really hurt him! Really humiliate him and... and I couldn't do it." Groaner's fingers curled into fists, but he kept them pressed tight to his skull. "I just felt like shit for even thinking it. To reveal something that'd hurt him so deeply, he'd be ruined. Career, destroyed! But I felt awful about it! I didn't... I didn't want to _hurt_ him." 

Tensing with frustration, Groaner sat up sharply, punching at the air with both hands. Rex was already picturing the one-two KO he could have delivered. "I should be fucking  _elated!_ Cloud 9! That was shit a villain has wet dreams about!I could've crushed him with a few words on a podcast!Easy peasy one-two-threesy!" 

Rex managed not to swear under his breath. The line had definitely been crossed, and Groaner had been the one to do it. He was sprinting headlong as something that Rex knew very well about: he'd been acting like this was hate and frustration with his nemesis, but coming around to the idea that those were not the right name for his emotions. This was Rex's love for Frau Mantis all over again.

Rex tried not to sigh. This was exhausting to even think about. But at least this was a mess he understood. "You're hardly the first nemesis to fall for a hero, kid."  

"I'm not a kid! I'm twenty-fucking--" 

"All you little shits are kids to me!" Rex snapped, satisfied as Groaner's jaw clacked together and was silenced. "So let me lay some fatherly wisdom on you here: you aren't the first, won't be the last. Lots of us cross that line more often than we should. In _both_ directions!" 

"No shit." Groaner leaned forward a little, carefully enunciating each word. "I mean your mistakes with villainy are  _lexendary_ _,_ if you get my drift." 

Rex couldn’t stop a small chuckle from bubbling up.  "Okay, that one was pretty good." 

Groaner ran his hand through his mass of curls. They sprang back immediately into their fluffy halo as he struggled to simply take the compliment without making a big deal of it. Black Saturn wasn't the only one who needed some propping up or attention, Rex realized. Every comedian needs an audience, and Groaner's act was falling flat with the person he needed to land every line with.

"But that's just it. My dick's lead me into more trouble than I care to recount. But my heart only led me into trouble  _once_."  

"So you're a cheating dickcheese, I get it." 

"….yeah, actually. I know _every_ way you can fuck up a relationship." 

Groaner searched Rex's face, eyebrows moving over his browbone to knit upward, bunching together like furry caterpillars. "So why are you up here listening me boo hoo hooing into the night?" 

"Because you're not Frau Mantis." 

Groaner leaned back in sudden revulsion. "I should fucking hope not! I'm a prop comic, not a murderous man-eating Nazi insect!" 

"That's my  _point." God,_  did this man ever listen? "Nobody's going to have to drop you into molten metal while you look at them and tell them it's million of lives versus theirs, and think for a hot second that they're going to choose you over millions of people. You're not going to try and wipe the world clean and restart it with a master bugrace, or anything like that. You aren't even vaguely interested in mass murder." 

"Are you saying I'm small fry?" 

  
"If the clown shoe fits." Rex shrugged. He wasn't going to 'elevate' him to mass murderer when arson in pursuit of a bad joke was about as bad as he got.

"I don't think I mind that." Groaner ducked his head, resting his arms on his knees. "I mean, I... I don't know if I'm cut out for this. Definitely not with Black Saturn _._ " 

"From the sounds of it, you're looking for an entirely different thing from Black Saturn." 

Groaner was hunched with his head in his hands again. "Christ. I'm just as bad. Give me one fucking ounce of affection and some closet action, and I'm... I'm smitten. I had my fifteen minutes of gay panic after the move and that's totally on me, but I came to my senses! I thought I'd patch things over with him, you know? Then this little Ringler asshat moves into the space I left all on my own and suddenly everything's a hot fucking mess." He drooped again, shoulders slumping downward as his frustration drained away, replaced by a sort of rueful disappointment. "Man, I did not expect to be this possessive." 

Resolving not to ask about  _closet action_ , Rex bulled forward, trying to get to the heart of the matter. "Like I said, not the only one who's had things change for them. And you know, sometimes what made you great nemesises makes you better, ah, lovers." 

"Oh please." The roll of Groaner's head, Rex was fairly sure, alluded to rolling eyes but who could tell when he didn't have any. Rex didn't even know how he could  _see._  "Saturn's code name could be  _Captain Oblivious._ He's never gonna get it unless you smack him in the face with it. Then you still have to keep him from seeing things the way he  _wants_  them to be. Some guys have a one-track mind with their dick, but Saturn's not that guy. He wants to have the perfect heroic life, and that means I ain't moving from one category to the other short of seismic events. You'll get American Ranger to drive a Toyota before that happens." 

"Yet they're all made in America," Rex sighed.  

"I know, right?" Groaner straightened up again and looked up at Rex, red brows furrowing over his bulbous nose. "How do you deal with this shit? Dealing with just Black Saturn's driving me around the bend, but you had the whole team. This is a metric fuckton of bullshit _._ " 

"I had multiple affairs and too much Jack Daniels." It was the most honest answer Rex could give.

"Great coping mechanisms there, Rex." Groaner put both hands back on the ledge and leaned back, exhaling into the cool November air.  

"Fuck, I am so--" he laughed once, but it came out weak and disheartened, " _boned._ " 

"You know you're gonna have to tell him straight," Rex sank a little, hovering closer.  

Groaner turned a flat, skull stare at him. "This is anything but straight, Rex." 

"You know what I meant!" Rex snorted once. Goddamn, Groaner could be aggravating. Always a sharp come back or terrible pun. But he was listening, and that meant Rex was getting somewhere. "You can't just torture Courtney and hope for the best. It's what a villain would do, and your heart isn't  _there_  with him, you know?" 

"I dunno, I really hate that California Dreamin' reject." Groaner was grumbling again, gesturing sharply with one hand. "Who fucking frosts their tips? 1996 wants its hair back." 

"Courtney's not ideal to have in the house, but he makes Saturn happy." Rex went on as something occurred to him. "Saturn  _needs_ a friend _._ They sometimes have a bad influence on each other, but he still needs Courtney to help him divide his attention and his needs. You already couldn’t deal with all of that craving for validation focused on you, so you may have to learn how to share." 

"You're calling me a child again, aren't you?" 

"Got it in one."  

"Ffffffffffffffuck you, Rex." A one fingered salute went up, and then dropped again. The silence stretched as they both looked out over the city from the mansion's roof. When Groaner spoke again, his voice was small and soft. "You think I gotta shot?" 

"Can I be straight with you?" 

"Yeah, sure,  _you_  can be straight." 

"Cut that out!" Rex snapped, before he reminded himself he had a distraught twenty-something clown who was very possibly in the throes of young love for the first time in his weird life. "You're the only one who does _._ "

"Yeah, right, yank the other one." Another roll of the skull. Rex decided that was definitely eye-rolling. "There is no way that's true."

"He respects you." It came out solemn, and to Rex it was that important. Black Saturn's regard was not easily won. "He's a complete cock-knob about showing it, but he does. Which is more than I can say about about how he treats me." 

Groaner looked back out over the yard, fuzzy red eyebrows sliding over his browbone. He was quiet when he finally spoke again. "You're a solid guy, Titanium Rex. You need to get a leash on that libido, maybe get some anger management therapy, but you're solid." 

Letting the gentle jibe slide, Rex smiled. "Thanks." 

When Groaner lapsed into silence again, Rex considered drifting away. But something was gnawing at the back of his mind. "Food for thought, if I can offer you something else to chew on?" 

Groaner greeted the question with finger guns. "Shoot." 

"You aren't the first to fall for your nemesis, Groaner." Rex started, looking at in the predawn sky. So many mistakes, with so many amazing women. He'd screwed the pooch with nearly every one of them. "If you wanted, you wouldn't be the first nemesis to switch sides. Legitimately _._ Not this cock-up idea Divizo's running with, but... you know, if he's serious about it, we wouldn't be sad about having you on the side of justice." 

"Whoa, slow it down there, Rex," Groaner said as he climbed to his feet. He put up his hands in surrender. "Let's not get crazy here. I'm just figuring out being into dudes in leather, not a whole alignment change." 

"Okay, okay." Rex chuckled to himself. He had to take his shot, but he wasn't sure it was entirely a miss. "You want a lift back down?" 

"That'd be great." 

Rex slid an arm under the skinny man and took them both down to the balcony on the second floor. "Get some sleep, and maybe we can figure out a way to make the attic a little cozier while you're still here." 

"Eh, I don't mind it so much. Not like I got allergies."  

Rex decided against asking Groaner just how his sinuses worked. Some things were just better left unasked. Instead, he clapped the smaller man on the shoulder, and said, "Good night."  

They parted ways to sleep, and Rex began to wonder if maybe he'd been too hard on the lot of them. Maybe Divizo could do the right thing. If Groaner could fall for his hero, maybe... just maybe, Divizo could remember loyalty and honor. 

Much like Groaner, Rex supposed all he could do was hope for the best. 

**Author's Note:**

> After binge watching this all weekend and now being totally caught up, I couldn't contain my enthusiasm. Top to bottom the characters are AMAZING, and I love that these so much goodness coming from it... and I needed some personal resolution and a soul searching clown after S3E3.
> 
> Also: for the love of god fans please, more fanworks. WHERE ARE YOU? I can't just reread the same ten fics all the time!


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